Sadness, weariness, emptiness, and sorrow. These can all add up to a spirit of heaviness. Whether it is just a difficult day and my mood is less than friendly, or when the darkness closes in and surrounds and suffocates, my God does not mean for me to carry this weighty garment of gloom. When it is so heavy I can’t remove it myself, My LORD God takes it off for me and throws it away! Then, not only does He not leave me bare, He replaces my tattered sackcloth with a garment of praise! A beautiful, sparkling garment of praise, more dazzling than anything I can even imagine! I can sing to Him and dance for Him and He delights in me. He loves me even though He knows what I was! He has taken my ashes, my mourning and my sorrows, and He has given me a crown of beauty, joy, and a garment of praise- I can rejoice even in the most difficult circumstance! I am never more at peace or more consumed with joy than when I am completely lost in His praise. He even has picked out an amazing garment for me to wear- His praise!
Thank You LORD for taking my brokenness and replacing it with Your strength; You take my sorrow and replace it with joy; You take my spirit of heaviness and replace it with praise; You enable me to sing praises and even shout! Thank You for transforming me day by day, strength by strength!
To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61:3
